"Since taking office in 2000, President Chen has attributed the failure of his administration to irrational boycotts by the opposition parties," said Ku Chung-hwa (
"But there has not been much improvement in Taiwan's political environment since the swearing in of the new legislature, and Chen then argued that it is because the ruling DPP had not adapted to its new role and its functions were weakened," Ku said.
"So he pushed for the idea of synchronizing the party and the administration by taking the party's chairmanship. People didn't blame him for breaking his campaign promise of not partaking in party affairs; instead, they still pin their hopes on A-bian.
"But now he has become the paramount leader of the country with all the political and economic power and resources, he will not be able to shift the blame onto others. In the next 18 months, people will watch closely to see if the president can really demonstrate his will to undertake reforms and implement the ideas of his administration," Ku said.
The general public is actually wary about the president serving as the DPP chairman, Ku said. People sympathize with the president for not having enough power and disapprove of the oppositions' irrational behavior, he said, but they are concerned the president might just care about whether he has "enough" power while ignoring issues such as the quality of policies and coming up with concrete measures.
Ku believed that in his capacity as president and party chairman, Chen would have many channels and ways to demonstrate his power. But he will also have to "share power" and "set standards."
"For example, in terms of creating constructive interaction with other political parties, how can Chen show his sincerity? And how can a line be drawn in the decision-making process in the DPP Central Standing Committee ... so that party interests will not dominate the policies made by the Cabinet," Ku said.
RSS